Everybody's got an opinion about conservative commentator Glenn Beck. Maybe yours will be influenced, for better or ill, by Brian Stelter's conversation with him. Parts of it were televised on CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday. Here's the first part:

Beck hosts daily radio and television shows. But he also oversees his own media company, Mercury Radio Arts, including a Web site and television channel called The Blaze. That's why Forbes magazine estimates that Beck and his company earn $90 million a year - making him not just a polarizing public speaker, but the face of a very big business.

Lately he's been espousing his distaste for politics - "I hate it more than I ever have," he said - and his desire to "affect culture."

Stelter asked if he had veered away from politics in part because it's bad for business, but Beck said no: it is "better for business if I talk about it."

"You would not believe the complaints that I get" about broadening out beyond politics, he added.

Beck talked at length about wanting Americans to unite around common principles and values.

"I think we're a country in civil war," he said. "I just think we're in a cold civil war. Shooting hasn't started, but somebody stupid is going to do something stupid and it will escalate - unless we talk to each other."

Here's the second part of the interview from Sunday's "Reliable Sources:"

Check out more of what Beck has to say on next weekend's "Reliable Sources," Sunday at 11 a.m. Eastern time.

soundoff(73 Responses)

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I have listened to his show and Rush, Hannity, and most of the other 'big names'....but some years ago, I started realizing how much mental harm it was doing to me by allowing these people to get in my head for hours each day, I dropped TV quite a long time ago and rarely see movies....when I stopped or mostly stopped listening to political talk radio the mental relief and clarity of thought I got was astonishing...so I am little interested in listening to these guy's opinions on everything...they can be like a bad addictive negative drug. Free yourself from them or be subject to them, it is your choice.

What an imbecile this guy is. He one of those people who takes the bible literally and believes dinosaurs and people lived together a few thousand years ago and that evolution is a complete lie and fairytale. Howard Stern has a clip of his views on Youtube. Someone with this much ignorance should not be allowed a medium to spew this idiocy.

I work in corrections so stories about unusual ways people ply to get money are not new to me, and not until this interview I thought I had heard them all. The idea that an individual can peddle hate to become a millionaire is truly awesome! Geeee, why hasn't anybody thought of that?

I used to think that it's either armed robbery or the lottery, with the latter being a wee bit more certain. But now I am convinced that peddling hatred wins by a wide margin, that the armed robbers I teach can only admire you with green envy, Mr. Beck.

You are a genius!

Enjoy your riches, especially now that you have realized: sixteen years after your daughter was born, that you are a dad! May be also, sixteen years from now, you will realize that you, more than armed robbers, belong in prison!

Beck is in so many ways so clearly unstable, but his recent spate of attempts to reboot his image over the past year is at best disingenuous considering he has been one of THE most divisive, hate spewing, fear mongering and paranoia inducing elements in recent American history. One need only look at the comments section of the Blaze to just see the utter hatred and paranoia he has sewn, all while holding himself out as a "christian". Congratulations Glenn, religion has supposedly sobered you up, stopped you from drinking, doing drugs and abusing your wife, this supposed change of heart because you did not know that you were a negative force because you "thought the country was stronger", is not only a cowardly dodge, it's ridiculous that he thinks that now that the genie is out of the bottle he can just say " my bad" and it is enough. If that makes you sleep better Glenn congrats.

I would have to agree we are certainly in a cold civil war. If things continue in the current direction (mainly the annual increase of taxes while household wages slowly decline), you can pretty much remove the word "cold" from the slogan.

ZIP SO I guess, in your world, the stuff that CNN/MSNBC/ Jesse Jackson/ Al Sharpton/Piers Morgan, and Bill Maher preaches are not hate speech and is responsible news commentary. At least FOXNEWS show both sides of the issues not one sided like all of the above does. That must be why Fox News is the most watch cable news channel in the world.

Beck and the 1 Percent Crowd claim to be Christians, but choose not to read or follow Proverbs. The Democratic platform is much closer to helping all but the wealthy. In fact, God tells us to give to the rich will make you poor. Only the wealthy have the money to give millions to candidates. What do they want in return? More legislation that causes further income inequality. May God awaken the apathetic Americans to the need to go vote in November for candidates who vow to vote for positive things rather than just try to ruin OUR presidency...which, in turn, ruins OUR country. We need campaign finance reform. We need for taxpayer-financed PUBLIC broadcasters to immediately begin providing unlimited PUBLIC airtime to political debate so all candidates can get their messages distributed without having to constantly pass the hat among, oh, say, Big Oil barons who continue to receive huge taxpayer-provided subsidies. Wealthy broadcasters...especially Beck, Rush and the Fox "VIEWS" pundits continue to act like they don't know why the rich get richer and don't mention why those who have them on a leash hate the poor and elderly. Yes, both are ENTITLED to help, according to our real Commander-in-chief, who will (hopefully soon) judge those who ignore his directives. If the Democrats will drop "pro-choice" and switch to "pro-adoption", there will be little reason for anyone in the 99 percent majority to support obstructionists...who, indeed, are fueling a "cold civil war." First time I can remember agreeing with Beck!

You hit the nail right on the head. I've never understood why everybody doesn't get this. Look at the wealthiest of politicians. Look at the wealthiest American cities/counties/neighborhoods/etc... THEY ARE VIRTUALLY ALL DEMOCRATIC CONTROLLED. So please don't tell me that the democrats are FOR the people and aren't trying to hoard their money and make more of it. They're just the same as the elephants. Just trying to get rich going about it a different way. And all of us sucker Americans have been falling for it a long long time with no end in sight.

August 4, 2014 at 2:22 pm |

mb

Beck is right but it is partly his fault-It is the 24/7 HATE machine of Fox,Limbaugh, and Beck that have been dividing the American people telling us not to trust any part of the govt and calling the President a socialist, Kenyan and criminal and that anyone who disagrees is a Communist

Well it happens because once you peel back all the "reasons" and get to the meat of it, it's because he won simply due to his race. Let me put it this way.

Some people don't hate him because he's black, but they hate the fact that he won because he was black. A white candidate with the same limited credentials as Obama would've never made it out of the primaries.

August 4, 2014 at 12:07 pm |

usathoughts

The burning question. Did CNN's rating go up or down? I would give 10 to 1 odds it went up.

Listen to the language of Glen Beck's show versus that of MSNBC. The same goes for all Conservative Radio talk show hosts. Hannity even reaches out to Progressive Socialist with poor results in that he gets but talking points, no discussion.

There are about 20 Million Conservatives reached by these Radio talk show hosts. The Mass Media reaches out to about 150 million people who are in some manner on the Government Public Dole.

Do the Conservatives and RiNO Republicans chide the Progressive Socialist? Yes, but not in crass terms. I have "cursed" out a commenter but in a manner similar to how the Chinese do so. In the vast majority of cases they have not understood they were being cursed.

Mr. Glenn Beck was being kind to CNN when stating the hate shown in the comments from both sides. There is a vast difference. One is on a personal level almost always. The other address angst against 'policy', used as a catch all phrase.

Both sides exude fear. Those on the dole do so for personal reasons. Those who pay for all of it are concerned for the country at large. They know this cannot be sustained. One man cannot support four others outside his own family for long. Simply put but the gist of it is correct.

Have never watched Reliable Sources before. Great interview with Glenn Beck. From many of the comments its obvious many don't even begin to understand what Glenn Beck was saying about listening to the people that don't believe the same things you do. How sad for all of us as well as our country is this does not change.

I agree we need to change, but it was Glen who was leading the charge for the intolerant nature of politics today. Maybe he has finally seen the light as to what a rabble rouser he has been, but I doubt it. As he himself said, "it's bad for business".

I think Beck in right on point. We have part of the the country that wants to move to European style socialism and part of the country that wants to retain traditional America. I often marvel that we spent so many lives defending freedom and now we have so many people that want give their freedom away.

You mean some Americans want to move forward, and others are whining about no longer being in the 1950's. As for giving away freedoms, it's the TEA/GOP who have been trying to dictate what consenting adults do in their own bedrooms, dictate what books get on library shelves, portray anyone who disagrees w/them as criminals, ect, ect. Giving away your freedoms to corporations is the TEA/GOP mantra.

To the RepubliCons/RepubliCants/ Tea Nuts.. We are fools? No offense but my bathroom is worth more than your shitty MiddleAmerican Red State homes. I pay more in taxes every year than the 5 Red State RWer households earn gross every year.

August 4, 2014 at 11:22 am |

V goodman

And the part that gets the most benefits doesn't want the government to help them. It's a win win! The blue states can keep all the money they are currently sending to the red states and the red states can enjoy their dirt poor attitudes in peace with less government (interference)!

Also ranked in the bottom 15 states for income, wealth, prosperity, home values, quality of life, health, education, most privately insured, science, engineering, infrastructure, tourism – as no one on the planet wants to visit their states, research & development… etc etc etc

August 4, 2014 at 11:26 am |

Scott P.

Actually, what we have is that half the country, the educated half, who wants to join the 1st world and learn from the decisions and systems that have made them ranked #1 for quality of life and ironically wealth.

Your other claim is just a farce because whenever it’s a RWer’s opinion, it’s always the traditional Murica or the just “following the Constitution” – which is BS. The traditional America didn’t sell out half the country for a profit, didn’t move jobs to Communist and fascists Mega-Government countries to save a dime, as they suppress wages, while waving the flag and give lip-service to hating big government and freedom here.

What the RWers want is for the rest of us to be ranked in the bottom 15 as are all the red states in America. You also want to turn us into a No Government, No Taxes, No Regulations, and guns for all 3rd world nation like Somalia and Nigeria; where money and corruption rules, not law and order; where you can shot another person dead because they look funny.

In reality, you speak treason daily and hate and attack the government established by the people for We the People. Take out the Federal government subsidies and the wealthy Blue States Federal taxes give to Red States and you would be a 3rd world country within two decades.

As an educated man it would benefit you to understand "Neochartalism", known otherwise as Modern Monetary Theory.

It appears to have functioned well since 1970, however it has an Achilles Heal. We are now experiencing the injury.

The proof of this can be found in an article by Mr. Peter Schiff, "The Belgian Connection".

I consider myself a Constitutional Conservative. I am well versed in Finance & Economics. I have no cause to speak in egregious terms as the numbers speak for themselves.

I reply to you because of your effort to compose a reasonable post based upon your knowledge.

August 4, 2014 at 1:32 pm |

Michael Jones

Well said !

August 4, 2014 at 10:52 pm |

Michael Jones

Well said Scott P. that is!

August 4, 2014 at 10:53 pm |

John

This is coming from a man who accused the president who had only been in office for a few months at the time as being a ¨racist¨....lol! Beck´s comments should be taken with a grain of salt like the rest of the right wing pundits on Fox Noise!

Glenn is clever for sure, but more than that he is a sick and greedy person, spewing garbage, tuning people on each other, making the country focus on unimportant things. One thing I can not figure out is how people like him are able to reconcile themselves with things they on daily basis. He must force himself to believe in the BS. Or is it possible that he just does not have that side of personality/makeup that would force introspection and see himself as part of bigger thing and do the right thing. But we as citizens of the earth are to blame to listen to him despite knowing what he is all about. I can not explain this either. There is almost zero content in the two videos; All he is trying to do is gather more audience for his shows.

What the heck just happened? Glen Beck sounds like a human in this interview and Brian Shelter sounds like....well... Glen Beck in 2010: an aggressive news host trying to put words into the mouth of a guest on his show.

Amazing that Beck is asking people to cool it on the hyperbolic partisan ranting when he is one of the biggest polemicist of all. Guys like Beck and Limbaugh and Hannity and O'Reilly are all polemicists that are motivated, not by ideaology, but by greed. it's all about the money. Rile people up and they'll watch your show and buy your books. Unfortunately, you will also make a lot of enemies as Beck has learned and hence his reason for not walking with his kids down a city street anymore. Beck, I think, is the phoniest of them all. They are the Elmer Gantry's of our generation.

Glenn Beck....????? WOW...! Am I really hearing this hypocrisy coming from this FOX contributor... "Contributor"... paid thousands/millions... to "contribute" their venom to 3/4 of the American people who are followers... of this S_ _ T.
Now he's being paid by the "supposed"... "middle" network. Like many others, you fake's just cross over networks and remarkably spill the venom you're being paid to blast.
Cable news... congress and all your "special interest contributors" have brought our beautiful country into a large marketing pool of garbage.

Cable news, Fox and now even CNN has succumbed to... yes Mr. Beck the fall of America... You're at the heart of it!

We have forgot who and where we've came from. The political ideology these "Contributors"... not "is" "bringing" America down but "has" "brought" American down. Have we gone past the point of return... maybe. The only thing that will save this country is to remove the lawyers who make up our political system with TERM LIMITS. We have become "THE" most corrupt system on EARTH..

Bill, what are you smoking? You must live in Colorado? Get your facts straight. The left wing is driving this country to the ground. The border, Russia, Iraq, Israel, and the IRS scandal all under obama's watch. Beck is on track, you are not.move to France they will take you.....

Mac, most of the hate and filth is spewed from the extreme right. So called media pundits like Rush, Michelle Bachman, and Sarah Palin feed the ignorance and paranoia to a minority of hateful people always looking for a scandal. If these people would take half of that energy and channel it into positive measures as Mr Beck proclaims, then we could work together and get more things done. Its time we stop dividing ourselves, respect our differences, and rebuild this great country.

August 4, 2014 at 4:33 am |

jboh

You must be drunk on the oxycodone pickled brain flatulence of Limbaugh. If you remove your head from his backside, you won't get manure in your ears. Now go cash your Koch roach paycheck.

August 4, 2014 at 7:51 am |

Frank

Glenn Beck made a valid point in his observation about the need to see public figures as people. His daughter had lamented that members of the public directed their wrath toward him without considering that he is a father, not just a media person.
It seems to me these people are reacting to things he has said and vitriol he has aimed at public figures with whom he disagreed without giving those public figures the kind of respect his daughter wishes for him.

Brian, I truly wish I could work out why media so often calls for partisan poetry meeting in the middle and yet you all whatever side you are on continously bat one side against the other by pulling into an interview the polar opposites. I rarely witness and interview other than Charlie Rose who has discussions where the interviewees are civilly exchanging. The interview this morning was a classic example where the Palestinian representative was talking past her 'opponent' and I use that expression accurately because they each are so impassioned by their own point of view they need the average Joe on the street Mr Middleman like me who has values in both ideologies who could probably draw the discussion to the middle leaving the interviewer some leeway to take control of the babble. You all want the country to come to the middle and be nice but you never have the representative of that 60% of the country represented in your interviews. And just one more thing since you represent reliable sources, could you please influence reporting somehow to stop asking the worn out meaningless question: "How did that make you feel?' Biologically the question does not stand. We choose our own feelings. Nobody makes us choose. Gemmy

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Now more than ever, the press is a part of every story it covers. And CNN's "Reliable Sources" is one of television's only regular programs to examine how journalists do their jobs and how the media affect the stories they cover.

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About the host

Brian Stelter is the host of "Reliable Sources" and the senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide. Before he joined CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter for The New York Times. He is the author of the New York Times best-seller "Top of the Morning."